Wake Forest Continues Undefeated Streak at Home
Winston Salem, N.C. - The Demon Deacons got their revenge against their cross-town rivals, the Duke Blue Devils. Wake Forest remains undefeated at their home court, Lawrence Joel Veterans Memorial Coliseum, to improve their home record to a perfect 15-0. Wake Forest hasn’t had this good of a start at home since the 2004-2005 season. This was also the first time Duke was not the favorite coming into the game since Chris Paul was the starting point guard for Wake Forest. Duke was on a roll, winning their last five games since their last loss against North Carolina. Nonetheless, Wake Forest had the expectation that they were grabbing their revenge, and they did just that, winning 83-79.
This ACC matchup had an extreme intensity to it. There was a total of 14 lead changes and seven ties, with each possession being as important as ever. There were stretches that both teams looked like they couldn’t miss. Duke shot 44% from three whereas Wake Forest shot 52.9% from three. This resulting score was much higher than the first matchup in Cameron Indoor. Efton Reid II looked to bounce back after he was limited due to early foul trouble when they played in the first matchup. He didn’t fill up the box score, but he made several plays that resulted in scoring opportunities for his team or bothering the defense with his 7 '0 frame.
The player of the game, Hunter Sallis, is as dangerous on offense as the best of them. The Gonzaga transfer scored a game-high, 29 points. He had 14 of those in the first half and dominated the entire game. To start the second half, Sallis knocked down three three-pointers within the first five minutes and maintained his fiery stroke. His performance doesn’t discredit teammate Austin Carr's performance this afternoon. He had 16 second-half points, to give him a total of 18 points on the day. The lack of rim protection from Duke made it possible for Wake Forest to attack and finish with relative ease.
Duke played a great game but simply couldn’t answer down the stretch. With a series of multiple turnovers, it allowed Wake to grab a lead with just a few minutes left to play. Also, dealing with foul trouble, Duke could not be as aggressive on defense as they would have liked to be. There were stretches throughout the game where the Duke guards were unconscious from downtown. The starting guards combined for nine three-pointers and Tyrese Proctor led the charge in the second half, knocking down four of them.
With less than 10 seconds to go, Duke had possession, down by two, dribbled the ball down the court, and turned the ball over with 2.8 seconds to go. Wake Forest grabbed the win, and the sold-out crowd stormed the court as soon as the final buzzer went off. While the court storming was going on, star player, Kyle Filipowski sprained his ankle after he was bumped into by running fans. Head coach John Scheyer shared his distaste for court storming in the preceding press conference.
This win by the Demon Deacons generates a huge argument to be had for them to be in the NCAA tournament. This is a huge momentum boost as the season is starting to come to a close as we are only 22 days away from Selection Sunday. Hopefully, Filipowski will be okay after he had help leaving the court and Duke will look to bounce back after their three-game road trip will come to its end. Duke will continue to try and claim a top-four seed in the NCAA tournament.
